Delimiting the class of derived prepositions in Russian: Grammatical and semantic features of <em>isključaja</em> ‘excluding’ and <em>vključaja, sčitaja</em> ‘including’

Abstract

The object of the article are Russian forms isključaja ‘excluding, except’, and vključaja, sčitaja, both meaning ‘including’, which are traditionally classified as derived prepositions. I demonstrate that these items have properties of both verbs (more precisely, adverbial participles) and prepositions. Still, it is necessary to attribute each item to a certain part of speech. To solve this problem, I use the principle of economy of linguistic description. I show that the description of the items under discussion is shorter and more adequate if we agree to regard them as adverbial participles (gerunds) used in the function of a preposition. I propose an analytic explication of meaning for each item and, besides that, explain why isključaja does not combine with an existential quantifier.